Improvement in apparatus for producing refined iron and steel castings



i. W.M|DDLETON.

improvement in Apparatus fer Producing Refined iront Patented .luiy 30,1872..

' and Steel Castings;

' l/ r /1 l /l/ Witnesses:

UNITED STATES PATENT GFEICE,

JOHN w. MIDDLETON, oF PHILADELPHIA, I EI\INsrI.vAuIA.`

IMPROVEMENT IN `APPARATUS I'OR PRODUCING REFINED IRON AND STEEL CASTINGS.

` Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 129,899, dated July 30, 1872.

SPECIFICATION.

I, JOHN W. .MIDDLEToN, of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain process whereby Huid caststeel or malleable iron can be simultaneously freed of scoriaceous matter and formed and condensed into articles of machinery, ready for the planer, lathe, file, or rolls, without resort to the hammer for the purposes, of which the following is a specification:

In carrying out my invention I take steel or malleable iron, as the particular article to be formed and condensed may require, in a duid condition, directly from the reducing and refining furnace, and run or pour it into afstronglyconstructed ilask, in which the pattern or patterns for the articles to be produced have been molded, through a long upright hollow shait or pipe, communicating at its lower end with the mold or molds in the flask, so that when the said mold or molds and shaft or pipe are filled with the iiuid metal thepressure ofthe column of melted metal in the same, acting by.

gravitation, will condense the metal in the mold sufficiently to expel any scoriaceous matter that may be therein, and at the same time permit the said scoriaceous matter to rise to the upper end of the column of fluid metal in the said shaft or pipe. The said ask and pipe, with their contents, are kept in a sufficiently-heated condition to effectually prevent any chillingof the said contents during the described operation by means of any suitable surrounding hot chamber previously prepared and heated for the purpose. The shaft or pipe for conducting the melted metal into the mold and supporting the fluid column of the same, which by simple gravitation affords the pressure which causes the expulsion of the scoriaceous matter and condenses the duid metal in the mold, is, intended to be formed of plateiron, in sections, adjustably bolted and clamped together by means of longitudinal and vertical ilan ges, and then lined with clay or other suitable fire-proof lining, and securely attached to the flask, and both together finally placed in the chamber in which they are to be heated. In order to facilitate the divisionv of the chilled or solid column into suitable lengths or in gots, so that the purer portions of the same may be easily submitted to the rolls for elongation,

and the impure or scoriaceous portions to the hammer for removing the scoria, the interior or lining of the shaft or pipe is so formed as to present therein a series'of annular projections or contractions of the transverse area, which will cause corresponding grooves around the column at proper distances apart, so that when the flask and pipe have been hoisted out of the hot chamber and opened the said column of chilled metal may be readily divided at the grooves and submitted to the rolls or hammer, according to the condition or quality of the metal in the different sections. The upper sections, being more spongy, and containing the most scoria, must` go to the hammer or be reworked, while the lower sections may be rolled into bars. The surrounding chamber for heating the iiask and pipe may either be partly sunken in the ground, so that the pipe can be sufciently inclined to allow the fluid metal to be run directly from the reducin g and refining furnace into the upper end of the said pipe, and the latter then raised up into the vertical position to increase the condensing force of the iiuid column of metal therein, or the pipe may be supported in the vertical position in the hot chamber and the iluid metal elevated and poured into themouth of the pipe. The hot chamber 4is intended to be heated by a hot-blast driven through it in any suitable manner, the same being of sufficiently-high temperature to keep the melted metal in the pipe and flask in the iiuid condition required during the process of casting described; but that my invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawing.

a a is the upright hollow shaft or pipe, which communicates at its lower end with the molds b in the flask c. The shaft or pipe a, as shown, is divided into sections at a* ait. The molds b are formed of lire-brick or fire-clay, so prepared that they will not produce gas when heated. a1 is a lining of fire-clay to the pipe or shaft a, which is formed with annular projections a2 at suitable distances apart, so that when the fluid metalv has been poured into the apparatus, and the molds b of the shaft a have been filled with metal and afterward allowed to cool and then opened, the various portions of metal in the shaft a between those annular rings may be readily broken at those parts and treated according to their nature. a4 is a 2 meeo funnel oreulargenient to facilitate the filling of the apparatus. D is au opening, closed by a plug, e, and a cover, f, for the purpose of partially filling the molds in the flask c when large quantities of metal are required to till such molds. p

It will be readily understood that, by means ci' the above-described process, either malleable-iron or cast-steel articles, such as crossheads, cranks, eecentrics, earns, &c., for steam and other engines or machinery, and iugots of any forni or shape for railway and other bars, can be cast, purified, or freed of scoria and thoroughly condensed, ready for the plauin g-machine, lathe, file, or rolls, with great facility and perfection at one operation; and thus the expensive, protracted, and laborious operations of expelling' the scoriaeeous inatter, condensing the metal, and forging it into the required shape, by employing a machine hammer, as heretofore, can be avoided or dispensed with, and a more accurately and solidly formed article produced at less cost.

pressure of the fluid metal with the duid met- ,Y

al in aiiask or mold in casting articles of ycastliron or ingots of previously-purified steel; but What I desire to secure by Letters Patent lhe hollow shaft or pipe lined with firebrick or lire-clay, haringr a series of annular projections, in combination with a iiask and molds, substantially as and for-the purposes set forth and described. JOHN lV. MIDDLETON.

lNitnesses:

BENJ. MoRrsoN, WM, H. MomsoN. 

